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Huawei exec's arrest opens a new front in US-China trade war

Huawei exec's arrest opens a new front in US-China trade war

Posted December. 08, 2018 07:38,   

Updated December. 08, 2018 07:38

한국어

It has been confirmed that the White House already knew of the arrest of a high-level executive of Huawei, China’s largest communications equipment provider, which occurred on last Saturday, when U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a banquet party on the occasion of their summit talks. Apparently, Washington has geared up to target the Chinese tech giant while trade war with Beijing is coming to a suspension. Over the 90 days of negotiations to end the ongoing war, it stands to elevate to a new round of tech battle between the top two economies vying for leadership in the future industry.

Warnings have been issued on other Chinese tech companies. White House national security adviser John Bolton told NPR on Thursday (local time) that the upcoming negotiations will allow Washington to learn what Chinese companies have done to steal intellectual property and hack into computer systems of the U.S. government and private businesses.

Brian J. Fleming, lawyer specialized in trade and national security, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou implies the fact that the U.S. Justice Department possesses explicit evidence and it may issue additional indictments, adding that it only is the tip of an iceberg.

Washington suspects Beijing of pressuring Huawei to wiretap and paralyze communications networks of other countries. In August, the U.S. government banned government agencies from using Huawei and ZTE products on grounds of security concerns, asking its allies to cooperate with its measures.


Yong Park parky@donga.com · Young-A Soh sya@donga.com